Gender depiction in Indonesian school text books: progress or deterioration

Iwu D. Utomo, Australian National University
Peter McDonald, Australian National University
Terence H. Hull, Australian National University

Indonesia has ratified important international conventions that uphold principles of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Progressive gender laws, policies and programs were developed but gender inequality still persists today. On the hypothesis that this persistence may derive at least partially from the education system, the authors have investigated gender depiction in Indonesian school texts. A wide range of Indonesian school text books at multiple levels were evaluated using a module that scores gender depiction in the public and domestic spheres, social leadership, good deeds, success in arts and technology, gender roles in environment sustainability, violent behaviour and sporting activities. Each member of the team independently provided a gender assessment score on each of these dimensions for each book. More than 100 books in the field of Bahasa and English Language, Religion and Social Sciences where depiction of gender roles is common were assessed. The study confirms the hypothesis.